Travels

Industrial Furnaces. Quite a catchy name isn’t it? The company was owned by Mr. Fr*****r and his name was soon known by all of dad’s children. We heard his name at dinner, when dad was home…and that always depended on Mr. Fr*****r’s plans. We heard his name morning and night, weekends, vacations, Christmas, and always we wondered; why did dad work for him?

(It’s strange that my first memory of this time in dad’s life would include Mr. Fr*****r. Obviously he wielded a great influence in our lives.)

But I do think that dad enjoyed his job, the job outside of the office and away from Mr. Fr*****r. When I was younger, I would look forward to the end of school as that meant that I would have a chance to go on a business trip with dad. I didn’t get to go on all of them, but I certainly remember the ones I went on.

Dad had a major account with the U.S. Gypsum Company and that meant that Industrial Furnaces was always engaged in the relining of the calcining ovens at one or more of their plants. Calcining is the heating of the crushed gypsum ore, breaking it down into plaster. These plants were located in some very odd places and so it was a real adventure to go on a trip with dad. Let’s see…Gerlach, Nevada was one site, Plaster City was another.

And while I was traveling with him I got a chance to see how much he enjoyed the fellowship of the men that worked for him. And it was quite obvious that they enjoyed working for him. I was told, more than once, by bricklayers and hod carriers, that my dad was “great guy”.